Tuesday, 28 April 2015

This is another card I made at the weekend, and the brief was 21st for a girl who loves Frozen. I think I have managed that.

I started my stamping various snowflake shapes from a Stampin Up! Christmas set in broken china distress ink all over a blank card. I then used some scraps from the gazillion (alright, three) Elsa dresses I made before Xmas to make a mini version of the Elsa dress and added this to the card.

I then added a silver 21 and 'Megan' in blue sparkly letters to coordinate.

To finish, I discovered some silver peel-off snowflakes in my stash, so added them.

Sooo, today I would like to share with you another card I made at the weekend. In fact, I liked this card so much, I made two:

I had the idea for this card a while ago, but due to total lack of enthusiasm for making cards, it didn't get made until the weekend.

This was a relatively simple card. I die cut a 'hello' from orange glitter card using my sissix dies and then die-cut a circle from yellow card. From the scraps left over from this, I cut some triangles and used these to make the rays of my sun.

I arranged and glued these into a 5x5 card and then stamped 'sunshine' from a Stampin' Up! set in orange memento ink in the bottom right-hand corner.

Unfortunately, making these cards seems to have brought on the rain instead of encouraging the sunshine and warmth to stay. Maybe I need to make some more for extra encouragement?!

Anyway, I would like to enter this card(s) into the following challenges:

Sunday, 26 April 2015

Sooo, another share from my card making extravaganza this morning (I tried to do equal male/female cards), and this time I have used an LOTV Here Comes Annabelle art pad image.

This just reminds me of my nieces, especially the eldest, who is definitely not girly, although she did purchase a dress last week, maybe now she is nearly 10 (next week), she is starting to embrace the fact that she is in fact a girl!

Anyway, I can definitely imagine her hanging from a tree branch, or in the case of their back garden, the bars on the swing!

I chose the colours for the rest of the card from the image (which I think have a real spring feel to them), using a tree green backing card and some papers from the LOTV Shabby Shack paper pack. I layered all these up in line with the Creative Inspirations sketch (rotating it a little).

To finish off the card, I stamped 'birthday' in cottage ivy Memento, layering this onto some coordinating paper and adding a blue bow to mirror Annabelle's hair bows. I also punched some circles from a scrap of paper and added these in all available corners.

Sooooo, I had a very productive morning today. In a bid to avoid doing any uni work, I made loads of cards. I finally got bored at 16!!! I don't think I have ever made 16 cards in one sitting before (well, actually two sittings, as I decided to go back to bed for a bit half way through), but the card box at work is looking extremely empty and drastic action was required, so I had set aside to day for creativity. I just didn't expect to be so creative.

I don't know if I will ever get round to blogging all 16 of the things, but I will blog some of them (until my hands no longer want to type anyway, or the urge to actually finish off writing my assignment - 2000 words on the impact of the emergence of sophist thinking on the reception of Greek mythology anyone?!)

So first up is actually the first card I made, and is aptly named as, following my busy morning, I spent a good hour this afternoon asleep on the sofa, which is what the hubby is doing now. For some reason though the football still seems to be on the telly - everything I try to change channel he wakes up and claims to not be asleep but 'listening to it'. I don't know how he can listen over the volume of snoring coming from him, but maybe you don't hear your own snores?!

The giant gingham checky things paper is from an old Dovecraft paper pack and I simply needed to add some blue satin ribbon from my stash and some hole-punched from a scrap of blue card circles in the top right hand corner - voila! one quick card.

Saturday, 25 April 2015

Sooooo, today I would like to say a very Happy 2nd Birthday to my honorary niece, Princess Pippa of the Terror Isles. She is my friends' little girl, but naturally, to her I am Queen Auntie Holly Fabulous (and she can even say that - very impressive!).

So, as with all nieces, she needs something handmade for her birthday. Cue Butterick 3772 and some left over fabric from a dress I am in the middle of making.

front

I actually bought this pattern a while ago as Pippa is so tiny for her age, her parents, Mark and Katy, asked if I would sew up some clothes for her that actually fit and weren't babyish. Of course I agreed, but me and Katy have yet to find time to go fabric shoppping together, although we have both now decided that this soon won't be an issue thanks to Haberdasherholic.

Anyway, this pattern has six variations, but for my first foray into toddler clothing (my biological nieces are practically teenagers now, and were never particularly small to begin with), I went for the simplest.

back

Oh Em Gee! This was the quickest and easiest think I have ever sewn - I might even get the eldest niece to sew some of these as part of her sewing lessons. Including cutting the pattern (in my lunch break) from the pattern sheet to hand-stitching the hem (watching MotoGP qualifying), this took me a grand total of two and a half hours to finish! Actual time at the sewing machine was probably an hour. I could probably lop about 45 minutes off the overall time by machine finishing the hem, but something about this dress wanted me to hand-finish it.

Although Pippaotomous is small, I cut an age two. Mostly, because I think she is out of age one now and the pattern did not have an 18 month option (and I always panic that they are going to come up small too). I also didn't have her with me to measure, as I fear, like the other nieces, if she comes to my house she may try to move in. Also, she can grow into it and with some white tights and a long sleep t-shirt it will look OK in the colder months (I think anyway).

buttons, buttons, buttons!!!gutted I didn't have any star buttons, but then again, the pointiness probably wouldn't be the best ides on chid's clothing - she may have used them as a weapon on her older brother . . . she's not of the Terror Isles for nothing

Anyway, not much to say - construction was easy. I even thought about pattern matching to some extent on this one. To my mind, the sodding stars are the wrong way round, which made it difficult to get a centre line, but I think I managed it so it doesn't look too horrendous - the other option had been to cut off grain, but I didn't want to do that.

I managed the tiny 1/4 inch seam fine, but think I would now like to invest in a 1/4 inch foot. I don't have an overlocker (yet!) so seams were finished with a zig zag stitch, but I hope it will be hardwearing enough.

Buttonholes were a breeze, even if I did use slightly bigger buttons, because I thought they looked good, and I had them in my stash, so it saved me a trip to the shops - not that that is a hardship at all, but we all know I wouldn't have just bought buttons!

check out that hand-stitched hem!

Anyway, I hope Pippapotomous (and Mark and Katy) like the dress. As I've said, I will be making more and I will be trying some of the variations, which include little flower patch pockets, ruffles, contrast trims and balloon applique (not something I have done since school!)

I will also hopefully get my big girls version of this dress finished this week and move onto some of my other planned projects. I could also do with writing my dissertation, but its just not happening. I've still got a month to go . . .

Sunday, 19 April 2015

Sooo, today I would like to share with you something of a triumph - I made a full dress, from cutting out to final press, in just one day! And I think it is my new favourite dress. Meet the cherry ruby:

I made this from some gorgeous Michael Miller cotton, which I had actually bought to make some trousers (something I have yet to do), but decided that it would actually make a better dress. I think I am sightly very nervous about making said trousers, so look for any excuse to make a dress instead. In this instance, the cherries were just too bug for trousers.

Anywho, the pattern I used was the Simple Sew Ruby dress, which I have made before (here), so it probably helped that I already knew where pattern alterations were required. On this dress, I needed to lengthen the bodice by about an inch and take smaller waist darts, which is exactly what I did.

The fact that I had made this dress before also helped the fact that the instructions with the pattern aren't brilliant, and it doesn't tell you what length zip you need (I measured the zip in the Clara dress to figure this one out - 16inches it turns out). For a seasoned sewer, this isn't an issue, but this pattern is supposed to be for beginners so they could struggle a bit or get a less than perfect finish. I did actually speak to the peeps who make this pattern a couple of weeks ago (for Haberdasherholic purposes) and they told me that they are very aware of these issues with some of their patterns are they are hopefully getting ironed out now. If they do get them ironed out then I might stock these patterns because they are otherwise good little patterns - I've used a few now and have another waiting for the right fabric to come along.

Excuse the dodgy pictures - there is something going on with my camera and I can't figure out what. The horizontal stretchy lines are not there on the actual dress, I assure you.

I was going to hand stitch the hem for a perfect finish, but decided I wanted to get this dress finished, and that would add at least two days onto my make time (a circle skirt will do that to a girl), so I ran the hem around the machine. By this point I was feeling rushed, as hubby wanted to take me out for tea, so I messed it up a little and didn't catch the whole hem (I used a very narrow hem so I didn't lose too much length), so I ran it round again and it now somewhat resembles a twin stitched hem (although very wibbly wobbly in places). Sooo, the only hand stitching required was to sew down the facing on the inside.

I surprised myself that I got this done in a day as I was very good (again) and did everything proper-like - interfacing where it was required, tailors tacks, finishing seams . . . everything! So, just goes to prove, it doesn't take as much time as I thought and it might actually save me time (definitely stress), so I will do things properly from now on. You never know, I might be making toiles next, although I wouldn't get too carried away . . .

Anyway, I love this dress, as it is such a simple yet flattering shape, and I love the v-back detailing. It is also easy to make up (once you know how) and I wore it for our dress down day at work a few days after finishing and got lots of compliments. The only slight change I would make is to maybe lengthen the skirt a little and remember that the slightest gust of wind can result in doing a Marilyn.

Anyway, I have just finished another (much smaller project), which I will share with you shortly, and I have two more projects on the go, but in the meantime . . . .

Sunday, 5 April 2015

Sooo, today I would like to share with you a dress I finished last week. This is my first incarnation of By Hand London's Kim dress. This is a dress I fully intend to stock in my new Haberdasherholic shop.

I was slightly worried about making up a princess seam dress, as I have not have too much luck with them in the past, but this was a breeze to sew up. The pattern has a full skirt option, and a sweetheart neckline option, in addition to the variation I decided to sew. I chose this one because I like a square neckline, the wrapover skirt and the extra little pleated detail at the waistband.

The fabric was a freebie I got when I subscribed to Sew Magazine - 2 metres of this ditzy floral. I just needed a zip and some lining, for which I used some lemon yellow cotton lawn. I admit, I was unsure of the fabric at first, but I really wanted to make up this dress, but by the time I had finished, it had really grown on me.

I cut a size 18 from the pattern paper. The only adjustment I made was to add 1 inch to the bodice length, as I have learned that despite the fact I could probably be classed as a gnome due to my height, my whole lack of height is due to my incredibly short legs, and I actually have quite a long body, so if I wanted the waist to sit on my actual waist (or lack thereof), I needed to lengthen the bodice. The fit is pretty much perfect!

I decided to tackle this project properly, so I basted where was needed, pressed all seams and I was going along and even used tailors tacks - all practically unheard of in a Holly sewing project. However, I now think that I am a total convert and shall be using these on all future projects. I just need to get myself a tailor's ham now to make pressing the princess seams easier.

The instructions which came with the pattern were so clear and easy to follow (unlike another dress I have made, which I will share with you shortly) and the actual sewing of the dress didn't take too long. What did take forever was the handsewing. I decided to hand sew the the lining down, and the hand sew the hem of the skirt, which altogether took about five hours!!!! I'm not the fastest of handsewers, and it would probably have taken someone else a lot less time. Of course, the pattern doesn't call for it to be handsewn, I just decided that I thought it would look nicer. I just didn't realise how much hem there actually was, with the curve and everything!

Anyway, I love this dress so much, I am waiting patiently for a sunny warm day on which I could wear it, and I already have plans for many other variations, and have fabric for one already!

Wednesday, 1 April 2015

I am fortunate enough to just have just any godmother, but a genuine Fairy Godmother. Seriously, she is so short she is the size of a fairy! She is also special and magical because she has kindly offered to set up my little business that I have been on about (in my head at least) for ages.

Soooo, without further ado, I would like to introduce my new online fabric, pattern and haberdashery shop, Haberdasherholic.

I'm starting off small while I finish my degree, so we are currently only on facebook, but please head across and like the page. If I get to 250 likes before I officially launch, I may just do a giveaway. I am certainly posting all my sneak peaks on there.

I am in the process of setting up the Etsy shop. Currently, though, it will only tell you that I am on holiday. I am also considering a Folksy shop.

I'm happy to say that I already have some great indie pattern designers lined up and I will be heading to the wholesalers shortly to get the fabric.

I'm hoping to have everything launched in mid-May, and then will develop my website and start looking for some actual real physcial bricks and mortar shop premises.

I am sooooooo excited.

This doesn't mean I will stop my crafting - in fact this has been driven by my love of crafting, and who knows, I may even put up some sneak peeks on here.

About Me

Hello, my name is Holly and I live in Yorkshire, UK, where it generally rains and does not much else, but that gives me plenty of time to sit indoors and craft. I have been making cards for about a year now and I soon moved onto sewing and trying other crafts too.

It started as something to keep me occupied while the hubby (or fiance as he was at the time) watched football (soccer to anyone in the US) and it became a bit of an obsession, so much so that my spare room is now my sewing studio and I no longer have to sit at the kitchen table.

My other hobbies include tap dancing, following MotoGP and reading. I am also studying with the Open University for my history degree and am in my final year.

I sometimes wonder how I find time to do all this, and see my friends, as by day I work for a solicitors' firm in Leeds.

You can contact me using the contact form below or at fairy[dash]elephants[at]